The present invention relates to the field of Web applications and, more particularly, to Web applications having end-user data isolated in the local domain.
Software As A Service (SaaS) can permit rich internet applications (RIA) to be easily delivered providing vast array of capabilities within a networked environment. For example, SaaS can allow applications to be deployed to a desktop environment (e.g., within a Web browser) and accessed over the Web without installation overhead. SaaS is often employed to allow reducing overhead and minimize maintenance of locally installed applications on client devices (e.g., desktop computers). The adoption of SaaS, however, has been marred by the concerns of data privacy and confidentiality. In a typical SaaS based application (e.g., online PDF editors), users are required to upload their data to the server side to perform actions (e.g., data conversion).
For example, in a typical SaaS based application, users are required to upload their data to the Web domain (or cloud). This is something not acceptable or at least disfavored by a large number of users/companies, who wish (or must) to maintain control over their data. For this reason, many users/companies maintain an IT infrastructure, where locally installed applications must be purchased and/or maintained. In absence of the data control issues, many of these users/companies would happily take advantage of SaaS benefits and forego troubles and costs of locally installed/maintained applications.